In the Daily: Token Delistings, Paybear Is Savvy, Revolut and Hackers

In this edition of The Daily, crypto exchange Upbit is preparing to delist four tokens, while several projects have accused Kucoin of suggesting market making services to pump their volume and avoid delisting. Also, crypto payment processor Paybear has rebrandedto Savvy, and British online bank Revolut is hiring hackers to test its systems.

Upbit Marks Tokens for Delisting

South Korean crypto exchange Upbit has added several tokens – blocktix (TIX), salus (SLS), salt (SALT) and wings (WINGS) – to a category of digital assets that can be delisted in the future. The trading platform provided the reasons for its decision in an announcement published on its website.

The company explained for example that Blocktix, a project to build an event ticket sales platform, has not launched any working products for a long time and is not developing. Similar conclusions have been drawn regarding Wings Dao, a crypto price forecast service, and Salus, a proof of stake coin whose low liquidity exposes it to manipulation.

The salt token has been added to the list due to an inspection launched by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. SEC is investigating the connection between Salt Landing Holdings Inc. and Shapeshift CEO Erik Voorhees, as well as the possibility of fraud in the distribution of the tokens during the 2017 initial coin offering.

Upbit now expects to receive clarifications from the projects and if they are not satisfactory, the exchange will proceed with the delisting of their tokens.

Kucoin Accused of Blackmailing Coin Projects

Four token projects have reportedly been asked by crypto exchange Kucoin to pay up to $180,000 in fees for volume-boosting services. After their daily trading volumes fell into the bottom 18 percent on the Hong Kong-based platform, Jibrel, Encrypgen, Publica, and Unikrn were told there’s a quick way to recovery, The Block reported, quoting different sources.

Talal Tabbaa, COO of Jibrel, told the outlet that the startup was advised in an email how to improve the volume of its crypto to avoid the risk of being delisted. “Then they recommended market making firms that would help us reach the minimum daily volumes they set for projects. I was honestly shocked at the requests they were making,” he added.

The market makers were supposed to help the project reach a minimum trading volume and remain listed on the exchange. Tabbaa believes that was a proposal to conduct wash trading. “I’m 100% sure. Whenever there’s a guarantee, you know there’s something wrong,” he noted. His company turned down the $180,000 offer.

The team of another project, Encrypgen, was also told how to increase its trading volume through a marketing campaign promoted by Kucoin and allegedly offered at a price of $90,000 in BTC. After the CEO of the company David Koepsell refused to pay for the service, Kucoin eventually delisted its token.

Payment Processor Paybear Rebrands to Savvy

Crypto payment processor Paybear, a company based in the Swiss canton of Zug, has changed its brand name to Savvy. The startup claims to be working with over 3,000 merchants. It now offers an updated version of its core merchant API called Savvy Merchants and a new Savvy Wallet with support for multiple cryptocurrencies. The company, which also says it has already processed over $10 million worth of transactions, is currently expanding its offering into the consumer market. That strategy is part of Savvy’s plans to invest into other areas that demonstrate how cryptocurrencies can be spent and used.

Revolut to Hire Hackers

U.K.-based fintech startup Revolut is planning to improve its cyber security with the help of a team of hackers who will be tasked with breaking into its systems. The plan is to expose potential weaknesses in order to prevent real cyberattacks, data breaches and fraud, The Independent reported.

According to Paul Heffernan, the online bank’s chief information security officer, the team consisting of five computer experts will monitor security operations and browse the dark web for potential threats. “One of the responsibilities of this team is to come in and just hack all of our own systems for us,” Heffernan explained. The specialists will be hired in the next three months.

What are your thoughts on today’s news tidbits? Tell us in the comments section.

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Lubomir Tassev

Lubomir Tassev is a journalist from tech-savvy Bulgaria, which sometimes finds itself at the forefront of advances it cannot easily afford. Quoting Hitchens, he says: ”Being a writer is what I am, rather than what I do.“ International politics and economics are two other sources of inspiration.